Kizito Mihigo

Kizito Mihigo was Rwanda's most beloved gospel singer and a survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, which he survived as a child after losing much of his family. His songs of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation once made him a favourite of the regime. That ended when his music began to speak of the suffering of all Rwandans, including those the government preferred to keep silent.

In 2014 he was arrested, tried and sentenced to ten years in prison for conspiracy against the government, after songs he had written were interpreted as critical of the regime. He was pardoned in 2018, but the pardon was conditional and the surveillance was constant. He fled into exile in Belgium in 2018.

On 14 February 2020 he was arrested near the border with Burundi as he tried to leave Rwanda once more. Three days later, the Rwanda Investigation Bureau announced that he had been found dead in his police cell in Kigali, and that he had taken his own life. We do not believe it. Human Rights Watch concluded at the time that the circumstances strongly suggested he was killed in custody. No police officer was ever held to account, and the findings of the inquest that was announced were never made public.

The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights continues to demand a full, independent and international investigation into his death, and refuses to let his memory be closed along with his file.